Religion - a respectful discussion, for those interested

You know, last night it occurred to me. I have been missing the point a bit with this debate about the Priest abuse scandal. None of us, after all, really knows how many Priests were actually guilty and how many were falsely accused for whatever reason. Some of the Priests convicted may be innocent, after all: our legal system is far from perfect. And on the flip side, some of the Priests who were exonerated, or had their cases dismissed, may have been guilty. We just don't know. I have been talking about my personal theory that there has been a smear campaign against the Catholic Church, with Priests being an easy target, and my theory that some of the victims may just be trying to win big cash settlements from the Church. (who as we all know has paid out large sums of money to victims).

But regardless of what the truth is, the fact is the Catholic Church has taken important steps to ensure the safety of children since, and there seems to be dramatic improvement. The Church has rid itself of the perverts who had infiltrated its Priesthood, and taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I think that's a fair assessment that we can all agree on....so can we move on and talk about what the various world religions actually teach, and the things they do in the world? I'd love to hear from Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus (in no particular order), or people of any other Faith...so far it seems like only Christians and non-believers have participated in this thread.

 

Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 19-26
"Each year the USCCB dedicates a week in July as National Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week. The dates of NFP highlight the anniversary of the Papal encyclical Humanae Vitae. The encyclical beautifully articulates respect for God's design for authentic love through the gift of human sexuality, conjugal love, and responsible parenthood. Married couples who use NFP report many benefits, including better communication between spouses, increased emotional maturity, deeper understanding of each other's bodies, and growth and respect for God's gift of fertility."

http://nyfamilylife.org/natural-family-planning/

 

You are revealing yourself as a hateful, bitter Catholic-basher. You keep making up numbers, first you say hundreds, now you say thousands....and you claim there is still "ongoing abuse" when even the most vehement Catholic-basher doesn't try to claim that.

The abuse scandal is OVER, ANCIENT HISTORY, A THING OF THE PAST! Let it go.

http://www.seattlearchsep.org/sep.html
http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/child-and-youth-protection/safe-environment.cfm
http://archny.org/safe-environment-program

 

*FACT CHECKER* SNAP and the TRUTH About False Abuse Accusations Against Priests

It is an alarming and incontrovertible fact: False abuse accusations against Catholic priests, which have always been present, are on the rise.


The mainstream media rarely runs stories about false accusations, and there are groups – especially the anti-Catholic group SNAP – who are desperate to hide the shocking truth about false accusations from the public.

What are the facts about Catholic sex abuse and false accusations? Consider:

§ A veteran Los Angeles attorney who has worked on over 100 clergy abuse cases recentlydeclared:

"One retired F.B.I. agent who worked with me to investigate many claims in the Clergy Cases told me, in his opinion, about ONE-HALF of the claims made in the Clergy Cases were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported a prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse."

§ Over an 18-month period in the Archdiocese of Boston, the Archdiocesan the review board – comprised largely of law enforcement and lay experts on abuse – "did not find that probable cause of sexual abuse of a minor had occurred" in 45% of the cases it thoroughly examined, again suggesting about half of the claims were bogus;

§ Last year in the United States, nearly half (45%) of all priests accused of abuse were long-ago deceased and thus unable to deny the charges – and this percentage continues to rise every year;

§ In weighing the costs of fighting lawsuits versus settling them, dioceses routinely pay out sizable settlements even for abuse claims against long-dead priests whose records werecompletely unblemished when they were alive and where accusations were never even substantiated.

Therefore, contingency lawyers have been incentivized to bring claims against dioceses which are either completely bogus or greatly exaggerated, or to seek outsized sums for minor claims.

Over the recent past, we have cataloged a shocking number bogus cases against Catholic priests, but clearly this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Lone voices in the media wilderness: Acknowledging the fraud


Speaking truth to power:
Vincent Carroll from the Denver Post

And indeed it is rare that the issue of false accusations against priests is even acknowledged in the mainstream media. Over the past dozen years, we have located only a couple of passing mentions in the media.

In truth, the media is structured in such a way that few reporters, editors, or columnists are ever brave enough to pursue a story which runs counter to the accepted narrative on an issue.

In 2010, Vincent Carroll at the Denver Post fearlesslynoted, "[F]raudulent or highly dubious accusations are more common than is acknowledged in coverage of the church scandals — although they should not be surprising, given the monumental settlements various dioceses have paid out over the years."

In 2005, Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal, writing about abuse lawsuits against the Church, asserted, "People have to come to understand that there is a large scam going on with personal injury attorneys, and what began as a serious effort [to help genuine victims] has now expanded to become a huge money-making proposition."

In addition, in 2001 (!), an East Coast attorney wrote, "I have some contacts in the prison system, having been an attorney for some time, and it has been made known to me that [accusing a Catholic priest of abuse] is a current and popular scam."


Who knows how many more such scams are being perpetrated today while the mainstream media sleeps?

We may never know unless a news organization is finally brave enough to run with a counter-narrative and expose the ever-widening scandal of bogus claims against priests.

http://www.themediareport.com/2013/11/26/false-accusations-catholic-priests/

 

“There are 3 false accusations in my diocese alone, one of which has been discussed here (Fr. Stephen Muth). Add to that HALF of the accused priests were dead and had lone accusers well after the alleged incident supposedly took place. Half of what is left VIGOROUSLY maintain their innocence and stand ready to face their accusers and mount a vigorous defense. One priest vigoroulsy maintained his innocence, yet left the priesthood on his own for the good of the diocese, and spent the rest of his days in seclusion. When one sorts out all of the variables and pure gossip, all that remains over the span of 60 years is 4, and 2 of those 4 WERE dealt with harshly by the diocese AFTER local authorities declined to investigate, given a choice of a lifetime of prayer and penance in an 8X8 monastic cell, or total ex-communication. At which point, those 2 DISAPPEARED OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET, only to have a duped public demanding accountabilty from a bishop who was a pimply faced teen at the time these perps were commitiing their offenses. In spite of that, the accuser's mindset concludes that all 14 priests accused in that span are guilty, and that those of us who were in diapers at the time of the alleged offenses are accountable. That ticks me off, Jim.What really makes me want to pull an Elvis on the monitor screen, is that all of this typecasting, broad sweeping mis-characterization, over hyperbolizing, towards the priesthood and the Roman Catholic Church as a whole, done by the likes of yourself, Dennis, and SNAP/VOTF, all of that DIVERTS attention AWAY from where the pedos are operating with no hinderances whatsoever. Above anything else, THAT is what makes me doubt your accounts. “

http://www.themediareport.com/2013/11/26/false-accusations-catholic-priests/

 

Turns out I didn't have to make that statement after all, since over the last 60 years only 4 cases of Priestly abuse were legit! I knew my theory was a good one! ..... the Catholic-bashers will have to concoct another bogus story to attack us with!